By Lillian O’Rorke

Chirag Vedullapalli and Amol Garg, like other 12- and 13-year-olds, love making art.

They also love helping others, and the two have teamed up to host an afternoon of creative fun for children in the hopes of rais-ing enough money to fulfill one child’s dream through the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

“Both of us are passionate about art and we like giving to charity so we came up with an idea to help charity and follow our passion at the same time,” said Amol.

The seventh grade student at Pine Lake Middle School added that as he speaks both Hindi and English, art is his third language.

“It expresses that, that even words cannot say,” he explained. “Art is just fun, you get be cre-ative and all that, and you get to show your perspective of things.”

In the spirit of sharing the joys of art with other children – and lending a helping hand at the same time – Garg and Vedullapalli are hosting Canvas and Cupcake Fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 21 at Beaver Lake Lodge. For $20 each, chil-dren will get all the supplies needed to paint their own inter-pretation of a cupcake on a 8-inch by 10-inch canvas and then deco-rate a real cupcake that they later get to devour. Proceeds from the afternoon will be given directly to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which will have a representative

at the lodge. Handing them the check, Garg said, is what he is looking forward to the most. The two hope to raise enough money to pay for one wish – around $700 to $1,000.

“That’s actually pretty amaz-ing – helping one kid live the life he has always wanted to live,” Amol explained. “It’s amazing to

think that because of your efforts you’ve helped one kid that you never even knew and changed his life forever.”

They chose the Wish Foundation, Chirag said, because they like the idea of making a large impact in one person’s life.

Her son has always had a charitable heart, said Chirag’s

mother, Chaitra Vedullapalli. He was 5 when people first started admiring his colorful paintings and asked to buy them, she said. When she asked him what he would like to do with his earn-ings, he told her to give it away.

“I always felt like donating it to somebody who actually needs it is a better thing than using it

for yourself,” Chirag said, adding that you would probably just end up buying something you don’t really need.

The 12-year-old Sammamish boy, who attends Chief Kanim Middle School, likes to paint animals, landscapes and abstract people. He looks at pictures only to get the right proportions and then uses the colors that come to him, he said. Chirag then sells his finished pieces online at www.meylah.com/chirag and uses the money to buy more art supplies and give to places like Children’s Hospital.

A few years ago, Chirag expanded his philanthropy when he and his friend Amol formed Creative Children for Charity, which puts on art and carnival-like events to raise money for other youngsters in need.

“Our Vision is to prove that kids can make a difference in the world, no matter what age they are,” said Amol. “Any kid can make a difference.”

The two run their organization like a business – meeting weekly to hash out event plans, pric-ing and budgets and to update the online art gallery, facebook account and blog. Their parents say they offer some oversight, but most of the responsibilities of running a charity fall on the two boys.

“It’s harder than you think it is.You have to come up with all the logistics,” said Amol. “As kids,

COMMUNITY6 l February 20, 2013 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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The Eastlake Speech and Debate club is wrapping up a suc-cessful season by sending nine of its members to the state tourna-ment.

Jackson DeStefano, Colton Hemphill, Ryan Holmdahl, Andrew Lam, Greg Lauer, Ryan Lundberg, Nick Randolph, Katie Vasquez and Wendie Yeung have all qualified for the Washington State Forensics Association Tournament. The state’s top high school speakers and debaters will gather at the University of Puget Sound for the competition, which spans two weekends, March 16-17 and March 23-24.

Eastlake tripled its debate team membership this year to 50. During the regular season, the team competed in seven tourna-ments where it earned 27 awards. Two of those awards came from an October tournament in Gig Harbor where, despite the fact

that the teams were told the wrong topic to prepare for, two of groups still emerged victoriously.

“The team has seen a phenom-enal amount of improvement this year that I am really happy to be a part of,” Lauer, the club president, wrote in an email. “The Eastlake Speech and Debate Team is on the rise and will be very dominant for the years to come. It is my goal that our club becomes so big in the future that Eastlake will consider making it into a class.”

For more information on the club visit www.ehsdebate.org.

Photos by Ray Lauer Ryan Holmdahl, Nick Randolph, Andrew Lam, Ryan Lundberg, Wendie Yeung, and Jackson DeStefano, - each a state qualifier – show off their awards at the Feb. 8-9 Newport tournament.

Eastlake debate team sends 9 members to state

Photo courtesy of Vijay GargFrom left, Costco’s CFO Richard Galanti, Chirag Vedullapalli, Amol Garg and Costco’s CEO W. Craig Jelinek met earlier this year to discuss the young boys’ charity.

Young Sammamish philanthropists host fundraiser

See CUPCAKE, Page 7

By Lillian O’Rorke

The plateau was well repre-sented at the 25th annual Mat Classic Feb. 15-16 where 10 area wrestlers battled the state’s top athletes for a chance to medal in high school’s biggest tourna-ment.

After taking second at the Region 3 Tournament the week-end before, Skyline filled eight of the 14 weight classes at the state championship.

By the time the two-day tour-nament was just about over, the excitement of having eight wrestlers make it the final 16 had taken its toll on Gus Kiss’s vocal cords. By 2 p.m. Saturday, the Skyline coach’s voice was all but gone.

“We’re really proud of the fact that we brought eight kids and one alternate,” he said in an almost whisper. “It’s a culmina-tion of hard work and dedica-tion, and it’s nice to see the end result.”

Just like he did in his run up to state, Skyline’s 220 pound wrestler Sean Mcalhaney came from behind and swept the com-petition.

Having lost his first bout to Brandon Champaco of Spanaway Lake – who eventually finished four places behind Mcalhaney – the Skyline senior pushed on and won his next five matches. He sealed the deal in the final battle for third place by pinning Lake Stevens’ Shaq Reed in 4:31.

“I’m stoked. When I first started wrestling this year, I was

off to a terrible start. So, every-thing now is just like a bless-ing,” he said with a wide grin on his face. “I went 0-3 my first three matches, I was unseeded in KingCo, and I won KingCo and won Regionals. And now to place third at state is like a dream come true.”

After taking second at region-

als the week before, senior Joey Gurke was off to a good start. He swept both his matches Feb. 15, the first with a 10-2 major decision and second by pinning Richland’s Pryce Seely in four minutes and 52 seconds.

But those would be his only two wins. Gurke lost the semi final match the next morning

12-3 to Joshua Smith of Kent Meridian. Unable to recover, he lost his next two matches to fin-ish in sixth place.

Skyline’s other state wrestlers included Nate Swanson at 106, Justin Manipis at 113, Joseph DeMatteo at 126, Tristan Steciw

SPORTS8 l February 20, 2013 SAMMAMISH REVIEW

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By Doug DrowleySpecial to The Seattle Times

As he went to sleep Friday night, Eastlake’s Edward Kim found himself adjusting his goals on the fly.

He started considering the rar-efied air.

Kim then went out and made a run at one of the state’s more revered records — that 50-yard freestyle mark of 20.02 seconds by Newport’s Ugur Taner back in 1992.

“I really wanted to,” admit-ted Kim, who swam the second-fastest time in state-meet history (20.11) on Saturday at the Class 4A boys championships. “I was thinking about it last night. ‘What if ... ‘ ‘What if ... ‘ It would be so

great.”Perhaps the 20.41 prelim

time (now the third-fastest time in state history) he threw up on Friday at the King County Aquatic Center bolstered the Eastlake junior.

How did he shave three-tenths of a second off in 24 hours?

“I didn’t shave yesterday,” Kim said. “I shaved down today. And I focused more on my posi-tioning. The little things, they add up.”

For Kim, who later won the 100 butterfly in 48.00 seconds for his sixth career state title (and fifth different event title), those little things added up to his second consecutive Class 4A Swimmer of the Meet award, as well.

Eastlake’s Ed Kim finishes on top, again

By Greg FarrarEdward Kim, Eastlake High School junior, slices into the pool on the way to winning the 50-yard freestyle 4A state championship with a time of 20.11 seconds at the King County Aquatics Center Feb. 16.

By Christina Corrales-Toy

After two consecutive years of second place finishes, Skyline High School senior Max Levy ended his career as the state’s 2013 4A 1-meter diving cham-pion.

The gymnast-turned-diver, who picked up the sport just three years ago, finished with a score of 463.50, more than 50 points higher than the second place finisher.

“It’s a culmination of all of my hard work that I’ve done since I started diving,” Levy said. “It’s all led up to this point, and I’m just really excited that I’m finally first.”

Levy spent the last few months preparing tirelessly for the Feb. 16 final and now that it’s over, he reflected fondly on what has been a successful high school career.

“There’s a little bit of relief now that state is over, but I’m going to miss high school diving and being here with my team-mates,” he said.

Skyline’s Max Levy wins his first state dive title

3 wrestlers from plateau earn state medals

By Greg FarrarSean Mcalhaney (top), Skyline High School senior, wrestles Brandon Champaco of Spanaway Lake at 220 pounds during the state 4A wrestling championships Feb. 15 at the Tacoma Dome.

See WRESTLE, Page 9

CalendarSAMMAMISH REVIEW February 20, 2013 l 11

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The Sammamish Heritage Society meets from 7:30-9 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at the Pine Lake Community Club, 21333 S.E. 20th St. in Sammamish.

Sammamish Plateau Amateur Radio Club meets at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at Fire Station 83. The club is open to amateur radio operators and those inter-ested in the hobby.

Rotaract, a community ser-vice for young adults ages 18-30 sponsored by the Sammamish Rotary, meets twice a month. Email scott.brewer@sam-mamishrotary.org.

The La Leche League is committed to helping moth-ers breastfeed. They plan to meet on the second Wednesday of each month from 10 a.m.-noon at the Sammamish EX3 Teen Center, 825 228th Ave. N.E. Visit www.lllusa.org/web/SammamishWA.

Block Party Quilters meets at 7 p.m. the first Thursday of the month at Mary, Queen of

Peace Church. Visit www.bpquil-ters.org.

The Sammamish Citizen Corps, a volunteer group affiliated with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, meets the first Wednesday of each month at Fire Station 82. Visit www.sammamishcitizencorps.org.

The Social Justice Book Group meets at 10 a.m. the third Monday of each month in Sammamish. Email hineswa@live.com.

A support group for caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s is where caregivers gain emotional support, learn and share their experiences 6:30-8 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at Faith United Methodist Church.

The Rotary Club of Sammamish meets every Thursday at 7:15 a.m. at the Bellewood, 3710 Providence Point Drive S.E. Visit www.sam-mamishrotary.org.

The Sammamish Fit Club, a club looking to improve the

health of the community, meets from 7:30-8 p.m. Wednesdays. Call Trish at 206-605-0679 or email whyweight@comcast.net.

Cascade Republican Women’s Club meets at 11:30 a.m. the third Wednesday of the month at the Plateau Club. Call 861-7910.

Moms Club of the Sammamish Plateau has activi-ties including weekly, age spe-cific playgroups and monthly meetings, coffee mornings, mom’s nights out, craft club and local area outings. Visit www.momsclubsammamish.org.

Foster Parent Support Group meets the last Thursday of each month from 6-8 p.m. at Mary, Queen of Peace Church. Earn your training/foster parent hours. Refreshments and child care are provided. Call 206-719-8764.

The Eastside Welcome Club, for people new to the area, meets at 10 a.m. the first Wednesday of the month and at other times for activities and outings. Call Pat at 572-0474.

Sammamish Kiwanis meets at 7 a.m. every Wednesday at Sammamish Hills Lutheran Church. Visit www.sammamish-kiwanis.org.

Toastmasters of Sammamish meet from 7:15–8:45 p.m. every Tuesday at Mary, Queen of Peace Church. Call 427-9682 or email davidl-loydhall@live.com.

The General Federation of Women’s Clubs, local chapter Cascade Woman’s Club meets at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of each month in members’ homes. Membership in the volunteer service organization is open to all women. Call 898-8603 or visit www.gfwccascadeclub.org.

Sammamish Garden Clubmeets at 9:30 a.m. the sec-ond Tuesday of the month in the homes of members. Call Cathy at 836-0421 or email CathyWebst@aol.com.

The Pine Lake Garden Club meets the second Wednesday of the month, plus occasional meetings for work-shops and local field trips. Call 836-7810.

The Sammamish Symphony is seeking musicians. Visit www.SammamishSymphony.org.

Sammamish Saddle Club— Visit www.sammamishsaddle-club.org.

Cupcake and Canvas fundraising event. Children can paint a cupcake on canvas, then decorate one. The fundraiser, geared to children 7 and up, is to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation. the fee is $20. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 21 at Beaver Lake Lodge. Contact gargamol2000@live.com.

Make two kinds of cupcakesRadical Robots will help children explore the world of robots. A session geared for

children ages 5-8 is set for10 a.m. Feb. 23, and a program for chil-dren 8 and up for 11:30 a.m. Feb. 23 at the Sammamish Library.

A writing group for people 14 and up is at 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Sammamish Library.

Medicare Made Clear, a program to explain Medicare and its changes is set for 11 a.m. March 2

at the Sammamish Library.

Passport Day in the USA, when the city of Sammamish and other local passport acceptance

facilities will be open to accept applications and answer ques-tions regarding passports, is scheduled for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. March 9 at Sammamish City Hall.

Events

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Mars Hill Students is made up of sixth-12th grade students in Sammamish, Redmond, Issaquah and surrounding areas. It meets every Wednesday from 7-8:30 p.m. for a time of life music, teaching, food and connection. Visit https://www.facebook.com/MarsHillStudentsSAM.

Grief Share Support Group meeting from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday nights at Sammamish Presbyterian Church.

Wednesday night youth group will have games, wor-ship and fun for students in grades six-12 from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Sammamish Presbyterian Church.

Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) allows mothers of young children time to make friends share stories and grow spiritually. The group gener-ally meets twice a month on Thursday mornings at Mary, Queen of Peace Church. Visit www.mops.org.

Healing Prayer Service for those who desire to experience God’s love through worship, prayer and healing. The fourth Tuesday of every month except November and December, 7 p.m., at Pine Lake Covenant Church. Email healingprayer@plcc.org.

Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered program offering sup-port. Mondays, 7-9 p.m., Pine Lake Covenant Church. Visit www.missiolux.org, or call 392-8636.

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